United MileagePlus (Consolidated) - GS Voice is mute?

I have left several email messages for assistance with GS (similar email to the 1Kvoice, but for GS customers) over the past 2 weeks and have not even gotten an acknowledgement of receipt. In the past (pre-merger) I would get follow ups same day or next day at latest.

Anyone else failing to get any response from GS email? Did they drop this service with the merger? I cannot believe that they are 2 weeks behind in emails for GS customers.

Took 10 days for me for an email regarding involuntary downgrade from paid F on 3/3 sent 3/5 with a reminder 3/12. And the answer was not like a GS answer used to be

It's not just GS Voice-- 1K Voice has also gone silent. I sent an email on 3/7, and have yet to get a response.

Definitely not seeing the same service standards that we were used to with PMUA. :(

Emailed 1KVoice 48 hours ago. Got the automated reply but no humanoid response as of yet.

WOW I am besides myself. I want to send my contact person an e-mail a the GS desk but I don't want to bother her, I don't think she would tell me what's going on anyway, although I would love to speak with her.

There are posts everywhere of e-mails and phone calls going unanswered on the GS/1K lines (email/phone call).

Well, either two things, they are swamped or they don't care anymore. I'm thinking that if they were swamped, they would have brought more on board to help take care of their best customers. Now would be the time to shine, but...

Here's to the new United.

UG

WOW I am besides myself. I want to send my contact person an e-mail a the GS desk but I don't want to bother her, I don't think she would tell me what's going on anyway, although I would love to speak with her.

There are posts everywhere of e-mails and phone calls going unanswered on the GS/1K lines (email/phone call).

Well, either two things, they are swamped or they don't care anymore. I'm thinking that if they were swamped, they would have brought more on board to help take care of their best customers. Now would be the time to shine, but...

Here's to the new United.

UG

They are non-responsive in everything I have tried too...I hope this is not the new norm but on the old CO forum it seemed that they were not use to being able to deal with problems in a straight-forward way with CO so I guess it is another one of those changes TWAGTL. :confused:

I think they are flat out swamped and its not well organized. I left an email around the 5th and never got even an acknowledgement that they received it. I still don't have my GS package either.
I did call today about a flight credit and was told that there is a glitch for upgrades so they put upgraded flights on hold so their miles won't post. It should be solved in about 2 weeks. When I told them that their online system gave me a crappy error message and there is nothing posted or emailed to anybody and they could save lots of their time answering those phone calls by just proactively communicating the answer was : we just talked about this internal as well but nothing is happening.
For 1 missing flight credit I spent 10 minutes on hold, 3 minutes with a GS agent, another 5 minutes with her on hold trying to get mileage plus and then 6 more minutes for her to find my flight. If you add this all up you can understand the amount of calls they get.
I think they are just overwhelmed. And for a lot of issues it is not like you can just bring anybody in from the street that knows SHARES or the integration issues.
I am not sure though when overworked will turn into I don't care anymore on their end.

I have done many IT projects and understand fully well that this is a huge project and a lot of problems are to be expected. What I do not understand is the utter lack of communication or acknowledgement of problems on either the web site or via email.

Jeff Smisik says in the safety video that 'we're doing all they can'. therefore, I expect this is going to be how it is in the future. It's not like thy can do more than 'all they can'

GS has been watered down

Jeff Smisik says in the safety video that 'we're doing all they can'. therefore, I expect this is going to be how it is in the future. It's not like thy can do more than 'all they can'

GS has been watered down

It's not just GS. It's 1K and GM. In any planned action it's not about the plan, it's about the execution of the plan. In this case if it were a battle plan we would have lost the battle. I give them a B for effort and an F for execution.

Jeff, it rests squarely on your shoulders. Todate I have flown 1/5 of the flights I would have previously flown on UA as a result of the new and improved merger. Just another unsatisfied lowly 1K flyer not getting any joy.

I sent an email to 1k voice on the 8th and immediately received the "due to high volumes it may take a while to get back to you". Received a reply on the 17th, with a ++ response!!!!

It's not just GS. It's 1K and GM. In any planned action it's not about the plan, it's about the execution of the plan. In this case if it were a battle plan we would have lost the battle. I give them a B for effort and an F for execution.

Jeff, it rests squarely on your shoulders. Todate I have flown 1/5 of the flights I would have previously flown on UA as a result of the new and improved merger. Just another unsatisfied lowly 1K flyer not getting any joy.

I have given up my 1K GS status for 2013 officially booking all my major international flights on British Airways (which I became gold after two round-trips in First so I can use it on American for domestic), SQ, etc. After being 1K for fifteen years and then GS when they initially started it, eventually becoming 1MM, getting 1.5MM and was gunning for 2MM, I am disgusted at the airline I once knew to be United.

Well, it has now been 1 month since I emailed GS with my first of 5 issues related to miles not posting, requesting confirmation that MMers will no longer get RPUs and why, inability to use a 'apology' certificate, and trouble with a ticketing issue.

I get FAR better service on Delta where I have absolutely no status. On United, as a GS, I cannot even get an acknowledgment, let alone a response, after over a month.

Thanks a lot, UA. You killed GS. GS is the new Silver.

Thanks a lot, UA. You killed GS. GS is the new Silver.

GS=Silver
1K=Bronze
1P=Plywood
2P=Tabloid newspaper
No status = Clear (as in invisible)

3 weeks now on my email to 1KVoice with no response....

Yes, very sad days for us PMUA'ers. I really appreciated 1Kvoice for both writing about outstanding service I had or some issue I needed help with. Like several, wrote several e-mails to 1Kvoice post 3/3 and never got any reply. Just like when I e-mailed CO's PP address once last year. So, just have given up 1Kvoice as a customer tool and forced to call about all the screw ups now.

and they just stranded me in LA on a connection (mechanical they knew about well before my first flight left), no effort by GS to call/fix/protect/rebook. They did not hold the plane in LA for 10 minutes so I could make it, and even worse held us as my flight left as we waited for a gate. I got to go to the United club to find an agent to give me a hotel. GS no longer exists, its time for a status match. :mad:

So far this year I am batting 0.000 in terms of getting any kind of response from UA/CO. I had hoped that using the GS line post 3/3 would see an improvement but it is just as bad.

So far this year I have had ONE flight that has not had delays / issues. Might be time to go back to using BA but that would mean overcoming my hatred of LHR T5 :(

So far this year I am batting 0.000 in terms of getting any kind of response from UA/CO. I had hoped that using the GS line post 3/3 would see an improvement but it is just as bad.

So far this year I have had ONE flight that has not had delays / issues. Might be time to go back to using BA but that would mean overcoming my hatred of LHR T5 :(

Tell BA your leaving UA for them, they will welcome you with open arms, it also gives you status on AA. I am curious, why don't you like T5? The BA lounges are modern, roomy and the terminal is not too bad. Just curious to hear a different perspective. (The best airport in Europe IMO is Zurich, just Swiss doesn't fly to many destinations)

UG

GS=Silver
1K=Bronze
1P=Plywood
2P=Tabloid newspaper
No status = Clear (as in invisible)

LOL!! :D:D

3 weeks now on my email to 1KVoice with no response....

Ditto. More promises made by UA staff that the customer-service facing portion of the business has any intention of fulfilling. Or even responding to...

Tell BA your leaving UA for them, they will welcome you with open arms, it also gives you status on AA. I am curious, why don't you like T5? The BA lounges are modern, roomy and the terminal is not too bad. Just curious to hear a different perspective. (The best airport in Europe IMO is Zurich, just Swiss doesn't fly to many destinations)

UG

I don't like layout of clearing security on connections. Once you are through that it is fine but I don't like the hassle at the bottom of the stairs and the congested layout at the top. I also dislike the fact that it is one of the places in the UK with the Nude-o-scope (and no opt out)

I stopped using BA because of their general lack of interest about anywhere in the UK that was not London. They went through a patch where flights to / from EDI had appalling punctuality and no one seemed to care

Getting INCREDIBLY frustrated with this BS. Decided to credit all my recent TG flights to NH. Think I'm going to miss 1K this year for the first time in a long while.... and on purpose no less.

At this point, all I want is an autoresponse. Kind of jealous of those who got one...at least an ack that the damn email was received.

No status = Clear (as in invisible)

It could be worse. They could be CLEAR, as in bankrupt. Start at post #378

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-skymiles-pre-worldperks-merger/944718-delta-road-warrior-training-do.html

Today I got my first reply of any type from GS's email support. Involved an issue from flight just after 3/3. So well over a month to reply to a simple email from a GS member.

The reply was interesting. Basically, they are saying everything is back to working like it should. Hmmm.

Thank you for your email to our Global Service Customer Care team. We appreciate the time you have taken to write to us. I apologize for the delay in my response.

As you are aware, we recently migrated to a single passenger service system. This was the single largest technology conversion in aviation history, and the vast majority of our systems are functioning as planned. However, we have had some technical and training issues that clearly have affected you. I'm sure we have tried your patience and I sincerely apologize.

Mr. xxxxxxx, at this time the website is available and the system is now functional. (deleted some items specific to my complaint)

We thank you for your understanding through this transitional period and hopefully the next time you fly United will prove to be a more positive experience.

I think they are flat out swamped and its not well organized. I left an email around the 5th and never got even an acknowledgement that they received it. I still don't have my GS package either.
I did call today about a flight credit and was told that there is a glitch for upgrades so they put upgraded flights on hold so their miles won't post. It should be solved in about 2 weeks. When I told them that their online system gave me a crappy error message and there is nothing posted or emailed to anybody and they could save lots of their time answering those phone calls by just proactively communicating the answer was : we just talked about this internal as well but nothing is happening.
For 1 missing flight credit I spent 10 minutes on hold, 3 minutes with a GS agent, another 5 minutes with her on hold trying to get mileage plus and then 6 more minutes for her to find my flight. If you add this all up you can understand the amount of calls they get.
I think they are just overwhelmed. And for a lot of issues it is not like you can just bring anybody in from the street that knows SHARES or the integration issues.
I am not sure though when overworked will turn into I don't care anymore on their end.

I have done many IT projects and understand fully well that this is a huge project and a lot of problems are to be expected. What I do not understand is the utter lack of communication or acknowledgement of problems on either the web site or via email.

Another lie. My UAE flight in a CRJ-200 (no F at all) has not posted for a week! At least, the problem is not restricted to upgraded passengers.

During the 3/3 conversion process UA decided to reverse my first and last names. My GS credentials and all boarding passes were affected. This is not fun to deal with on international flights where BP and Passport don't match. Fortunately my first name is unusual so I have been able to explain it away. It has taken more than a month and at least 4 customer service contacts to get this resolved on Monday. At least they tell me it is resolved and I will believe it when I see it on my corrected GS card. Until there is clear evidence that the many issues of random seat re-assignments, boarding pass problems, missing mileage and upgrades not clearing are resolved I am using AA unless UA is the only option. Lots of lost revenue to UA.

I did call today about a flight credit and was told that there is a glitch for upgrades so they put upgraded flights on hold so their miles won't post. It should be solved in about 2 weeks.

My upgraded flights have started to post... all my ON's are slowly showing up. Only the flights were all booked in C, D, and Z are almost all posting in K. Great work... (How can they even select that fare bucket- an ON fare isn't upgradable from anything other than C,D,Z,J so there is no logic to default to K)

This is very weird. I have been sending emails to GS address for weeks with no reply. I finally did get a couple replies over the past few days, thinking maybe they are digging out from the backlog.

Then I get this from GS:

***This email address is permanently closed***
Thank you for contacting United Airlines.
Due to technology changes related to the United-Continental merger, please note that this email address has been closed. Should you have general questions, please visit united.com and consult “Ask Alex”, our virtual expert. If you would like to share feedback regarding a travel experience, please contact Customer Care at united.com/feedback.
We appreciate your business and look forward to hearing from you.
- Your United Airlines Customer Care team


I only email GS, so have to assume this means GS email is being closed. Really? I mean, REALLY? UA cannot even afford to reply to emails from GS anymore? Wow. Just Wow.

This is very weird. I have been sending emails to GS address for weeks with no reply. I finally did get a couple replies over the past few days, thinking maybe they are digging out from the backlog.

Then I get this from GS:



I only email GS, so have to assume this means GS email is being closed. Really? I mean, REALLY? UA cannot even afford to reply to emails from GS anymore? Wow. Just Wow.

Unbelievable. But at the same time... believable.

you are one of our best customers...but we don't really care.

yikes.

you are one of our best customers...but we don't really care.

yikes.

Maybe GS will just have to call 1-800 WE DONT CARE to get in touch with CO customer "care" like the rest of us peons.

Wow. And with no notice to any of us.

Wow. And with no notice to any of us.

Indeed, this is truly the sad part. But it was never like UA to advertise a discontinuation of anything considered positive. Having come from the UA side, I have no perspective on CO.

How did CO elites contact their elite customer service via email? Ask Alex?!

I and my partner are both GS, and have been since the program began years ago -- earned the old fashioned way, with butts in seats in paid F or upgraded D/C for many many miles every year. Not the best FC product internationally, but we have been loyal to UAL because GS has been good to us.

I have rolled my eyes at some of the threads here on FT with people complaining about how things have changed with the "new" United. But sadly, I have become a believer in the loss of "our" airline.

I'm at far point on a SFO->FRA->CDG trip. I just called the GS phone line to make a change on my return, hoping to get on the earlier same day FRA->SFO flight later this week.

Over 1-1/2 million miles over the past decade, I have made this sort of request literally dozen of times, and virtually always been met by a helpful agent that accommodated my request. Sometimes the GS agent did it directly, and sometimes they need to call Inventory to approve the request.

Today, I tried twice with two different "GS" agents. I was met with nothing short of outright hostility. They claimed to be experienced UAL/GS agents, but told me they neither could nor would call Inventory Control on my behalf, and basically treated me like I was a crazy idiot for even requesting the change I was trying to make.

It's fine. I'll live and it was just a change for my convenience. But one that was IMO entirely reasonable, and one I've done many times in the past. To those of you who I have been rolling my eyes at: I'm sorry, you were completely right, and I was wrong.

I sent a note to the UGS email with this feedback, but it won't go anywhere. Is there a better way to make our voices heard as United's best customers? In my note to UGS, I pointed out that I'm also the CEO of a fast growing tech company that is doing > $2m of business with UAL every year, and growing rapidly as a corporate customer. We'll move that business to Delta or American or Southwest so fast it isn't even funny. Do they even care?

Are there other GS and corporate execs out there that want to try to band together and see if we can make our voices heard? Or is it hopeless?

pmf

$2,000,000 a year is a lot of business, even to a giant company like United. Surely a call to a senior executive would catch the ear of some big-shot there.

With this much business you enjoy a special advantage that most of us don't have - you can make it hurt a little if they don't treat you well. Use it - get an assistant to get you hooked up with someone at UA. Yeah, you have better things to do, but....

This is an award ticket right?

GS is the new Silver. @:-)

Sad to say, but my experiences recently with GS are pretty much the same. UA never had the best F or C product, but I always stayed with them because of GS services. Even though I rarely used the GS services, it was good to know they were there.

Now, that is all over. GS are treated about the same as any other flier now at United. Really too bad.

Oh, and as for the emails you sent to GS, my latest email to GS was greeted with a return email saying "Email address permanently closed" due to the merger. Icing on the cake.....

According to another thread, the GS email is no longer valid. I wrote a snail mail letter to Smisek, Tilton, and Johnson a month ago and have heard nothing back.

Beyond that, they don't care about us GS anymore. See my experience posted elsewhere:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18446139-post427.html

If they are prepared to offload and IDB a GS on a full fare F ticket SFO-FRA, they simply don't care about GS business anymore.

I have flown 90% of my travel off UA and on: LH (8), VS (4 booked), VX (3), SQ (3) and CX (2); YTD flights on UA, 3 international, on domestic; . One more booked, and I may change that to VS, no F, but Upper Class is not bad, and they DO treat you like a customer, even without status.

I flew UA for two main reasons: IRROPS treatment and the ability to get saver awards (and the odd upgrade on a cheaper ticket when I was not flying for my business). Those benefits are long gone, and it seems that I am mostly too. A couple of award flights booked, and several hundred thousand miles to burn, and that's likely it, other than the odd trip to China, where they are the only nonstop option other than Air China, and I think that UA is still just holding above that option.

Today, I tried twice with two different "GS" agents. I was met with nothing short of outright hostility. They claimed to be experienced UAL/GS agents, but told me they neither could nor would call Inventory Control on my behalf, and basically treated me like I was a crazy idiot for even requesting the change I was trying to make.


I'm just a lowly 1K. But these days when I call UA, I record my conversations on my cell phone, (much as many companies dealing with customers record their conversations to insure good customer service). And when you encounter this kind of behavior again, and if you drop UA as your company's airline of choice, make sure you play the conversation to them when they call you back asking why you aren't giving them your business anymore.

UA doesn't value any of their so-called Premier customers anymore. They are all bundled together as one class (GS, 1K, 0P, 1P, and 2P) and are a treated pretty much alike and not whole lot different than non-status customers. AT YYZ today, as I was waiting in the Premier Line to check my bags, the lady at the counter simply walked away without saying so much as one word. And she was the only one waiting on Premier customers! When I flagged her down, she said it was time for her to eat and she didn't know where her back-up agent was! Unbelievable.

Fortunately, there were several agents waiting on a long line of Kettles, and after a few minutes, one of the agents was kind enough to shout out from the opposite end of a very long counter to wait on me and one other Premier customer. He seemed totally embarrassed by his colleague's behavior and apologized.

GS (and even 1K) has no historical resonance with CO (now UA). It's simply a frequent flyer designation. Tell them you're "Platinum"--that'll get their attention.

I am a lowly 1K as well, but I found GS to be just a tiny bit over in terms of customer services at the airport. I was in IAH early April, and I found that they really had a clear line for GS and Global F and another one for BF and Premier 1K and PLT perhaps. However, say if you do what a typical GS does these days(purchase full fare YBM or F/C), you may be able to just have the same benefits as all others in terms of changing the flight because it is still based on the fare restrictions anyway. So just a bit warmer welcome and 'thank you for your business' to make me squeeze in 5k for UA? Probably not.

This is odd, and sad to hear. Even as a non 1K and never going to be GS I expect people flying more than me to be treated better than I am. Sorry OP.

I called UA today to make a change to an award ticked, by adding an overnight between two segments. Little to say click, click, click it was done and I felt treated really well.

No one should be treated poorly GM-GS but if a hierarchy is going to be created (by an airline, hotel, rental car company........) the people that create it should darn well followed it!

Does anyone know a reporter at business week? A summary of the views on these threads has got to make for a good article.

I think the interesting piece here is that GS/1K actually make up a very small part of the customer base ... but a large part of the revenue. The fact they have not attempted to protect these customers post systems merger is beyond belief.

Dealing with UA now is like dealing with a brick wall. Simple changes take 45 minutes and we have lost the personal touch of dealing with 1K and GS teams who seemed to care. While the bulk of non-status customers really have not experienced a huge difference (i.e. bad service just became awful) - having the drop from outstanding to awful overnight makes you question just what exactly has happened in the customer care universe over at United.

I think we have heard little outcry on this front because our numbers are truly very small. Non-status do not complain as they simply walk with no allegiance. I think the Silvers/Golds/Plats have basically given up. But as 1K/GS - we can't be more than 50,000ish?? if that?

Let me know what you think as I am so over dealing with an airline that does not listen, and does not respond. These guys were exceptional with identifying, and working to fix problems in the days after the merger. What has happened and why have director level staff like Shannon been silenced from dealing with the exact customer base they are tasked with understanding? These actions make absolutely no sense.

From what I can tell the head of this operation is a continental guy named Martin Hand:

"Martin Hand
Senior Vice President Customer Experience

Martin Hand is Senior Vice President Customer Experience for United, the world’s leading airline. He is responsible for reservations, customer care, customer insights, and United Clubs worldwide. Hand is responsible for approximately 8,000 employees across six domestic and 25 international contact centers, handling more than 65 million customer contacts per year. Hand is also responsible for United’s Net Promoter Score process to enhance the customer experience.

Additionally, he is responsible for the Airport of the Future initiatives. Prior to his current position, Hand was the Director of Continental’s two Houston Centers from 1997 to 2000, and was in the Finance Division from 1986 to 1996."

Either Hand is not up for the challenge or he too is being pushed in a direction from above. Given all of this madness, and as a shareholder, I am thinking of contacting a few board members to share my opinion. Will keep you all posted.

From what I can tell the head of this operation is a continental guy named Martin Hand:

"Martin Hand
Senior Vice President Customer Experience

....

Hand was the Director of Continental’s two Houston Centers from 1997 to 2000, and was in the Finance Division from 1986 to 1996."



I got a nice call from Martin Hand about a week ago, actually. But one thing was clear: he is a finance guy. As I discussed each issue with him, he always came back to saying 'cost' somewhere in his answer for why their options are limited. That is what happens when you put a finance guy in charge of customer experience.

Also, related to the topic of GS mail, I got another response from them today, after the above email that was sent 2 days ago. So maybe GS email is still alive? I cannot tell.

Yup. I am also a lowly bottom-feeding 1k who only personally does $25k/year.

Just got off the phone trying to move my flight in the AM to one hour earlier ... something I've done scores of times and ALWAYS was either "no problem, we'll just take care of it." or if I got a "new" 1k rep, I'd get hit with a fare difference (which, while annoying, was not a problem when it's my ask/fault).

Today... nope, can't do it, won't do it, and can't touch your ticket. "You need to go back to your travel agent and have them reprice and rebook it."

?????!??!?

I asked what that's all about - more changes I should be liking? She wasn't happy, "no, it's always been like this." ... oh god, here we go again. I just left it at "no, it hasn't always been this bad... thanks for making an effort to help me out, it's really appreciated."

My travel agency is about as bad as the new United at re-doing tickets. After I get done talking with the lovely folks in Poland, it has to go to the other team of lovely folks in India to get processed... sometimes in a few hours, sometimes overnight. I wonder if it's not the same team in India ...

Long story short, (too late, I know), I'm basically told to go pound sand, despite being willing to pay any fare difference.

This is __not_ acceptable. I'm not whining about status, line jumping, awards, miles posting, or even upgrades .... this is a BASIC FUNCTION I expect an airline to be able to handle, something that comes up at least a few times a month, and something that for over 20 years and nearly 2M miles and this has not been a problem.

UAINSIDER or anyone from whatever is left of United, are you listening?

I got a nice call from Martin Hand about a week ago, actually. But one thing was clear: he is a finance guy.

And there you have it. Nothing more needs to be said or written.

A JD running an airline with a bean counter in charge of Customer Experience. Why stop there ... really shake things up and put a a marketeer in charge of maintenance and a Pilot in charge of advertising.

After reading SMI/J's comments from the other week, it's become crystal clear to me that the time is at hand to make the call to AA and start the burn off of my 1M mileage bank. This will not get any better until there is a clean sweep in the Sears---er, Willis Tower.

"Ya know, Jeffie, since you've got everything packed up in boxes, the board has been hammered by all of the negative press, poor performance numbers, and customer defections..."

I can dream, can't I.

I and my partner are both GS, and have been since the program began years ago -- earned the old fashioned way, with butts in seats in paid F or upgraded D/C for many many miles every year. Not the best FC product internationally, but we have been loyal to UAL because GS has been good to us.

I have rolled my eyes at some of the threads here on FT with people complaining about how things have changed with the "new" United. But sadly, I have become a believer in the loss of "our" airline.

I'm at far point on a SFO->FRA->CDG trip. I just called the GS phone line to make a change on my return, hoping to get on the earlier same day FRA->SFO flight later this week.

Over 1-1/2 million miles over the past decade, I have made this sort of request literally dozen of times, and virtually always been met by a helpful agent that accommodated my request. Sometimes the GS agent did it directly, and sometimes they need to call Inventory to approve the request.

Today, I tried twice with two different "GS" agents. I was met with nothing short of outright hostility. They claimed to be experienced UAL/GS agents, but told me they neither could nor would call Inventory Control on my behalf, and basically treated me like I was a crazy idiot for even requesting the change I was trying to make.

It's fine. I'll live and it was just a change for my convenience. But one that was IMO entirely reasonable, and one I've done many times in the past. To those of you who I have been rolling my eyes at: I'm sorry, you were completely right, and I was wrong.

I sent a note to the UGS email with this feedback, but it won't go anywhere. Is there a better way to make our voices heard as United's best customers? In my note to UGS, I pointed out that I'm also the CEO of a fast growing tech company that is doing > $2m of business with UAL every year, and growing rapidly as a corporate customer. We'll move that business to Delta or American or Southwest so fast it isn't even funny. Do they even care?

Are there other GS and corporate execs out there that want to try to band together and see if we can make our voices heard? Or is it hopeless?

pmf

This is naïve question, but as the CEO of a growing startup that's raised $100M+ of venture capital in six rounds, where are you still finding time to spend on the phone with an airline?

It seems like "ensure the S-1 is drafted in a timely fashion" or "start a new project which brings the company closer to profitability faster" would be much higher priorities and would probably command 12–16 hours a day of your attention.

I can totally understand if "calling United and chatting about travel plans" is something you do as kind of fun, mindless diversion -- and I can totally feel your pain if it used to be fun and after the merger it seems like the fun is gone. But at what point do you just give up, hire a veteran FlyerTalk member as a part-time admin assistant / arranger of travel, and move on? It sounds like, from your experience, the honeymoon might be over.

But at what point do you just give up, hire a veteran FlyerTalk member as a part-time admin assistant / arranger of travel, and move on?

Are you looking to fill this position? :)

Yup. I am also a lowly bottom-feeding 1k who only personally does $25k/year.

Just got off the phone trying to move my flight in the AM to one hour earlier ... something I've done scores of times and ALWAYS was either "no problem, we'll just take care of it." or if I got a "new" 1k rep, I'd get hit with a fare difference (which, while annoying, was not a problem when it's my ask/fault).
....
UAINSIDER or anyone from whatever is left of United, are you listening?

As much as I hate how GS sucks now (I've emailed them SIX times with ZERO response, thanks Jeff!) they are technically correct. Their contract with travel agencies says that they're not supposed to touch the ticket before departure. This is a relatively soft rule (as there's nothing technically preventing them from doing so) however it's possible that post-merger they're being sticklers about it.

This is naïve question, but as the CEO of a growing startup that's raised $100M+ of venture capital in six rounds, where are you still finding time to spend on the phone with an airline?...
I can totally understand if "calling United and chatting about travel plans" is something you do as kind of fun, mindless diversion -- and I can totally feel your pain if it used to be fun and after the merger it seems like the fun is gone. But at what point do you just give up, hire a veteran FlyerTalk member as a part-time admin assistant / arranger of travel, and move on? It sounds like, from your experience, the honeymoon might be over.

I know this is really just a silly off-topic side discussion, but in fact I used to actively enjoy working my own travel plans with UA GS agents. I was really good at it -- I understood the fare structures, what they could and couldn't do for me so I didn't make unreasonable requests, the order that they would ask for information, etc. I would actually smile to myself after a really good call with a really good GS agent that the efficiency and execution quality was a pleasure for me, and hopefully for him/her.

For business travel, I've long stopped calling UA myself except in an emergency. But for personal travel, like this return from CDG, I still try to do it myself. But now that I've become a crazy idiot for even asking about things that have "never been possible", I suppose I'm at the end of that road.

Does anyone know a reporter at business week? A summary of the views on these threads has got to make for a good article.


I might recommend contacting Benjamin Mutazbaugh the Today in the Sky editor at USA Today. If he gets enough people contacting him he might be persuaded to run a story. He can be reached through his official Facebook Page at:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/benjamin.mutzabaugh

As much as I hate how GS sucks now (I've emailed them SIX times with ZERO response, thanks Jeff!) they are technically correct. Their contract with travel agencies says that they're not supposed to touch the ticket before departure. This is a relatively soft rule (as there's nothing technically preventing them from doing so) however it's possible that post-merger they're being sticklers about it.
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My experience with GS pUA was that they would not touch a travel agency ticket before travel had begun, but once i began the trip they would be happy to change return legs.

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My experience with GS pUA was that they would not touch a travel agency ticket before travel had begun, but once i began the trip they would be happy to change return legs.

Same here. You can also ask UA to "take over" a travel agent ticket. Normally, it's a $25 fee, but waived for 1K and GS.

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My experience with GS pUA was that they would not touch a travel agency ticket before travel had begun, but once i began the trip they would be happy to change return legs.
For me they would change them as long as they could read and interpret the fare basis. They even did this on tickets with change fees.
I hope they still do it because it tends to be faster then dealing with our travel agency.

Hey again all. Like many here, UA's got my panties in a knot. As a GS/1K there has always been an email address that I could lob a message into and would get a pretty decently timed response back.

In the past I have used unitedglobalservices@united.com but I have not heard a peep back from them. I also sent a message in via the contact form on the new site and got nothing but crickets.

Anyone have another email address that a 1Ker could use to get in touch with UA about flight issues? Even the agent at the GS # did not have any add'l contact info. Said "the whole system is still being figured out. Have you tried the website?" Though she was very nice.

Grrrrrr...

Thanks all.

this issue isn't the email address but the mountain of unanswered emails. Better at this point to workout what you can with live agents.

Just got a response from gs email address today from an email I sent on 4/13

Just got a response from gs email address today from an email I sent on 4/13

Got mine earlier this week for an email I sent three weeks ago, and it didn't even answer my specific question!

Yes, responses from emails sent a month ago are trickling in. OK, so 1 month response time for your highest $$ customers? Wow.

the odd thing is that I got an e-mail, did not say what it was responding to, with a $300 off cert....

all odd.... :o

It was the regular time for pmCO WE DONT CARE to reply to it customers. Welcome to the COdbaUA world.

the odd thing is that I got an e-mail, did not say what it was responding to, with a $300 off cert....

all odd.... :o

LOL. I was not going to say anything, but since you did. A few days ago I received an email giving me 10K miles. It was an apology, but I have not idea what for. I too have many emails with no responses, so I have no idea what they were even responding to. Just weird. Appreciated, but weird.

My response from GS had my email to them quoted and it was a very polite and apologetic (for the delay) response. Also explained what the issue was and that it had been resolved. My request was for a flight that hadn't posted (return cancelled) to be credited.

CC Jeff Smisak On ALL your emails. They get answered much quicker (usually with a phone call as well)

CC Jeff Smisak On ALL your emails. They get answered much quicker (usually with a phone call as well)

Make sure you put an 'e' and not an 'a' in his last name, otherwise all those emails will get bounced back ;)

CC Jeff Smisak On ALL your emails. They get answered much quicker (usually with a phone call as well)

I talked to the exec office, they had a backlog of 70,000 communications at that point. They called me back, were very appologetic, but it was a "we are sorry" call, with no attempt at resolving the issues. At this point, its an avilanch of complaints and as the guy waiting to enter the RCC at SFO with me today, who had just talked to a top exec said "totally clueless guys in suits crunching numbers" :eek:

I wrote GSvoice yesterday 5/3 and received a response today less than 24 hrs later. Very helpful information as well.

I wrote GSvoice yesterday 5/3 and received a response today less than 24 hrs later. Very helpful information as well.

Great news. I think communication is the #1 thing UA needs to focus on.

Had an interesting thread where there were three emails back and forth rapidly with the GS desk and then silence when I asked about who else to contact to fix the issue (that they couldn't fix). Urgh.

Had an interesting thread where there were three emails back and forth rapidly with the GS desk and then silence when I asked about who else to contact to fix the issue (that they couldn't fix). Urgh.

Join the Premier Line with all the other elites. At COdbaUA, all elites are EQUAL. Has that message not sunk in yet? :rolleyes:

This was unexpected, but props where props are due... I finally got a response from the email I sent to the old UAGS unitedglobalservices@united.com.

It began with "Thank you for your email to Global Services, I am sorry for the delay in my response."

They also re-deposited a swu into my account. My issue had to do with using a swu on a MUN-IAD flight where they changed the aircraft to the old configuration and nothing worked.

It may have taken few days, but they wrote back and solved the issue. Now I need to get them to post my premium miles correctly. Getting 100% bonus for redeemable miles, but actual milage for F class toward 1k (should be 150%)